New Zealand GoogleEarth KAP Charts

Hi everyone,

This is another technical post.  Last week I created a set of about 400 New Zealand anchorage, mooring and marina waypoints, primarily for use in OpenCPN.  They're publicly available and described here.  This week's task was to create GoogleEarth KAP satellite image 'charts' for them all.  KAP charts can be displayed in OpenCPN.

Viewing Zen Again's location in OpenCPN using KAP charts

Many sailors using satellite imagery in OpenCPN have abandoned KAP charts in favour of MBTILES charts.  The latter allow one to zoom in and out, viewing varying levels of detail while doing so.  I prefer to only use satellite imagery when zoomed in on a small area, for example a narrow pass or a small bay.  KAP files are also much smaller, for example MBTILES for all New Zealand is about 6GB while my KAP files are about 400MB.  Both formats have their uses.

Read this post to learn about our KAP library and how to use satellite imagery.

The KAP library is on Dropbox here and the new file is NewZealand.zip.

The quality of satellite imagery varies enormously - regardless of format.  Below are a series of KAP charts in OpenCPN.  They range from very clear to 'clear as mud'.  Many of the Fiordland images are very dark due to poor light in the fiords - they're surrounded by tall mountains after all!

Napier Harbour

Sailor's Rest on Stewart Island

Kelly's in Fiordland

Alice Falls in Fiordland - note the water course

Harrison Cove in Fiordland

If you look carefully at the image below you'll see lots of small red 'dots'.  They're actually rectangles showing the location of each chart.  The set includes all main cruising areas, but of course no set is exhaustive.

All of these KAP charts were created using the VFKaps OpenCPN plugin.  This fantastic tool makes the process very easy.  The 'VF" in VFKaps refers to VentureFarther, a web site setup to assist cruisers.  To create KAP files using the plugin you need to pay a US$20 subscription to VentureFarther.  This buys you the API key required by the plugin.  Worth every cent!

If you find our KAP file library useful consider donating using the button at the top of this page.  Alternately Buy Us A Coffee.

Trust all's well where you are!

New Zealand Anchorages

Hi everyone,

This is a technical post!  It describes a GPX file downloadable from our public Dropbox site.  The file contains about 400 New Zealand anchorages, moorings and marinas.  I expect it to grow over time.  It has been compiled primarily from cruising guides.

Overview

The accuracy of these waypoints has NOT been verified. 

NOT for use in navigation.

GPX files can be loaded into many chartplotters.  This file was constructed in OpenCPN v5.  We have not tried other chartplotters and welcome feedback advising success/failure.

Four main symbols are used:

 Swing anchorage or anchor and rig own shore line(s)

 Anchor and use provided shore line(s)

 Swing mooring or side-moor hawser

 Marina

The GPX file may be downloaded from our Dropbox GPXlibrary folder here.

The filename is 'ZenAgain_NZ_Waypoints.gpx'.

Other files in this folder are zip files of our tracks in various parts of the world.

Most of the marks/waypoints have the ScaleMin parameter set.  This prevents densely packed waypoints obscuring the under-lying chart.  Only those in the screenshot above don't.  For example here is a screenshot showing Northlands overall, including the Bay of Islands.  Only a few are visible in the Bay of Islands.

Northlands Overview

And here's the full set in the Bay of Islands.  They emerge as you zoom in.

Bay of Islands Detail

Another example is Fiordland where only one is visible in the top screenshot above.  Zoom in to see them all.  The screenshot below shows most but not all.

Fiordland Detail

And finally here's a screenshot of Port Pegasus, Stewart Island.

Port Pegasus Detail

Sources include:

• Boaties Guide to Fiordland (BG2F)
• Coastal Cruising Handbook (CCH)
• Fiordland by Sea (FbS)
• Northland Coast Boaties Atlas (NCBA)
• Stewart Island Cruising Guide (SICG)
• Island Cruising South Island Rally yearbook (SIR)
• NoForeignLand

Some of the marks/waypoints provide a NoForeignLand URL and/or cruising guide pages using the acronym shown in () above.  Here's an example's Properties in OpenCPN.  It has three separate sources and ScaleMin is enabled and set to 2000000.

 

All names (but not the example above) start with 'ZA_'.  This allows easy sorting and deletion.

The file will be updated occasionally as our New Zealand cruise progresses.

Here's hoping cruisers will find the file useful.  If you do feel free to buy us a beer - link at top-level!

Bay of Islands to Whangaroa Harbour

Hi everyone,

We departed Bay of Islands Marina on Sunday after another very pleasant stay.  We installed our new Starlink Mini system, installed s/s rubbing strakes to protect the transom from the stern anchor chain, and did various other small boat jobs.

Water buoy in Whangaroa Harbour

On Friday afternoon we attended an OCC get-together hosted by OCC Port Officer Nina.  We walked there and back with the crews of sv Beyond the Stars and sv Coral Moon.  Several crews had driven from Whangerei including Shimshal II, Bengt, Kingscem and Masterplan.  Masterplan is, like us, taking part in the Island Cruising South Island Rally so it was particularly nice to meet them for the first time.

We received several other packages at the marina.  One was the Rally pack, including a rally flag and the yearbook.  The latter provides a lot of useful information.  Most valuable is up to date information on Fiordland and Stewart Island anchorages, moorings and facilities.

On Sunday we departed the marina and returned to the anchorage off the Russell Boating Club.  We left the marina with little water aboard since the Opua area was under a 'boil water' notice due to e-coli in the water.  So we dinked in to the Russell Town Jetty where fresh water was available.  We just did one run to fill 4 jerries which almost filled our main water tanks.

At the Duke of Marlborough in Russell

On Tuesday we departed the Bay of Islands.  The 7.5 hour / 36 nm sail took us out of the bay, past the Cavalli Islands and into Whangaroa Harbour.  Initially the wind was light E.  It gradually filled in to 15G20 SE.   The 1.5m NE swell made it a little uncomfortable but it was a nice sail overall.

Track

Arrival Track

Graphs

Bay of Islands astern

Happy Sailor

Passing the Cavallis

The entrance channel of Whangaroa Harbour is fairly narrow and quite spectacular.  Inside the water was calm.  We went into the eastern part of the harbour to be close to the water buoy run by the local coastguard.  We anchored in 5m over mud with three other yachts and two motor-yachts.

Approaching Whangaroa Harbour entrance

In the entrance channel

Zen Again in Owhatanga Bay

On Wednesday we did three runs to and from the water buoy.  This 200 litres filled our tanks and jerries.  Water buoys seem quite common around New Zealand, particularly in remote areas.  They're fed from streams ashore.

Work on the job list continues as always.  We've replaced a worn reefing line and the WindPilot control line.  I've also been working on our New Zealand waypoints in OpenCPN, compiling them from various cruising guides.  Nic's been working on our YouTube videos.

A tranquil anchorage

It's great to be seeing more of Northland.  We're on the lookout for a weather window to take us 'over the top' and S to Abel Tasman National Park on the N coast of South Island.

Trust all's well where you are!